"Detail from Vermeer's Girl with a Red Hat" (oil on linen; 10" x 8")

click here to buy

The painting is the copy of a detail from "Girl with a Red Hat" (c. 1665–1666) by the Dutch Old Master Johannes Vermeer.  The original hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

"Girl with a Red Hat" is a rather small painting (9.1" × 7.1").  I was indeed shocked at the size when I first saw it at the NGA, even for Vermeer, whose masterpieces are known for their intimate scale.  My copy is of a slightly larger size, a tiny bit of the bottom cropped off, along with a simplified background, to make it a version of the original.  It is seen as one of a number of Vermeer's tronies – depictions of models fancifully dressed that were not intended to be portraits of specific, identifiable subjects.
 

"Detail from Rembrandt's Self-Portrait" (oil on linen; 10" x 8")

click here to buy

The painting is the copy of a detail from "Self-Portrait" by the Dutch Old Master Rembrandt van Rijn. The original hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Rembrandt painted many self-portraits in his lifetime. He painted this self-portrait in 1659, after he had suffered financial failure despite so many years of success. His spacious house and other possessions had been auctioned the previous year to satisfy his creditors. In this late work, the deep-set eyes that bore into those of the viewer seem to express inner strength and dignity.

"Fountain at the National Gallery of Art" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

sold

Monday last week was my daughter's 15th birthday.  She wanted to do some water sports like kayaking or white water rafting to celebrate it.  But her dad was swamped with work.  So, instead, she suggested that she and I should go to look at Renaissance paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  What?  This is the girl who used to be bored to death with the world-famous art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City a few years ago?  I was glad to oblige her request.

Outside the world-class museum on The Mall, which is also free for all to enjoy, I saw a marble fountain transformed into an enchanted fountain by dappled light.  If I hadn't told you where I found it, you could have easily believed it was somewhere in Europe! My daughter and I had a wonderful afternoon together that day.  I also got a beautiful painting out of our date.